3 NYC besties celebrate their 100th birthdays together

NEW YORK - Friends Edith Moscou, Ruth Schwartz,  and Lorraine Pirrello all turned 100 years old this month. The best friends celebrated the major milestone at their assisted living facility on the Upper West Side.

"I'm the oldest living one in my family," said Lorraine Pirrello.

"I never thought I'd get to this point, and I'm grateful that I have," said Edith Moscou.

"If you didn't tell me I'm a hundred, I wouldn't even believe it," said Ruth Schwartz.

The trio was surrounded by friends from Atria Senior Living community and family, many of which they have not seen in over a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's really a joy every day coming to work," said Bill Deignan, Assistant Executive Director at Atria West 86. "You get to get to know these stories about just from another generation. It's just talking to them and being around them, it's, it's like, it's like living history."

Schwartz spent her career as a teacher. She is very proud of her experience learning braille, and teaching blind and handicapped children, but, she says her greatest accomplishment is having children.

"To me, that's a miracle to begin with and to have them, and to enjoy them, watch them grow," said Schwartz.

Pirrello performed all over the world as an opera singer, living in Italy for eight years and ultimately settling in New York City.

"I had a, a wonderful life, a career. Music was my passion and it became my profession and when I retired from that, I then turned to tennis and tennis is my absolute love," said Pirrello.

Sign up for FOX 5 email newsletters

Moscou, who goes by Mitzie, worked in her husband's law office and advises people should stay busy in order to live a long life.

"They should stay active in whatever they can because by doing so, they will be able to enjoy the years that are coming," said Moscou.